₦airaland Forum

Married off at 12, Safiya Hussaini (born in 1967) could never have imagined that the birth of her fifth child near the end of her third marriage would put her life in danger.

In 2001, in a quiet village in Sokoto State, she found herself at the centre of a legal storm when she was sentenced to be buried up to her neck in sand and then stoned to death for adultery.

Hussaini was sentenced to death by stoning in October 2001 for allegedly having a child with a married neighbour. She had the child after her divorce. Hussaini claimed that she was the victim of repeated rape by a man, whom the Sharia court found not guilty due to lack of evidence.

During the trial, Hussaini had no legal representation and was not informed of her legal rights. The Sokoto court dismissed her testimony and convicted her on 12 October 2001.

The verdict was widely condemned and international campaigns and petitions to release her were launched. Civil society bodies claimed Hussaini's case was handled that way because she was of the underprivileged class.

Hussaini got major support, got lawyers and was able to appeal her sentence. Her lawyers argued that Hussaini's former husband was the father of her one-year-old daughter, Adama, and that the village woman had made her original statement under duress.

Further they argued that the alleged act of adultery had taken place before sharia law was implemented in the state. Full Sharia law was established in Sokoto in June 2000, a month after baby Adama was conceived. She was defended by a Nigerian human rights lawyer, Hauwa Ibrahim.

She won her appeal on 25 March 2002 and the case was dismissed. The Appeal Court in Sokoto said the death sentence, originally handed down by an Islamic Sharia court in October, was baseless.

The court ruled that the adultery provisions of Sokoto's Sharia law could not be used against Hussaini, as the alleged adultery must have taken place before the introduction of Sharia law in Sokoto, moreover pregnancy as evidence was not enough.

Hussaini's plight was later recorded in the book, Safiya Hussaini Tungar Tudu: I, Safiya.
18 years later, Hussaini said she'd forgiven her tormentors.

Hussaini claimed that she was the victim of repeated rape by a man whom the Sharia court found not guilty due to lack of evidence.

OneCandleAway:
And someone was telling me women have more right under sharia!!

This should have been an opportunity to suspend sharia law if we had progressive leaders

Mirasteel:
So they didn't do anything to her?

Emu4life:
Every legal system can be miscarried at times. There's no 100% perfection so long as humams are involved.
How many times have we read that the so called "developed Countries " wrongly sentenced someone??
Should they also scrap thier laws??

Emu4life:
Every legal system can be miscarried at times. There's no 100% perfection so long as humams are involved.
How many times have we read that the so called "developed Countries " wrongly sentenced someone??
Should they also scrap thier laws??

Emu4life:
Every legal system can be miscarried at times. There's no 100% perfection so long as humams are involved.
How many times have we read that the so called "developed Countries " wrongly sentenced someone??
Should they also scrap thier laws??

Emu4life:
Every legal system can be miscarried at times. There's no 100% perfection so long as humams are involved.
How many times have we read that the so called "developed Countries " wrongly sentenced someone??
Should they also scrap thier laws??

advanceDNA:
This is not wrong sentence...this is violation of human right......this should not even be in court in this first place

Racoon:
https://www.facebook.com/share/1AcgWfcveV/

Emu4life:
Every legal system can be miscarried at times. There's no 100% perfection so long as humams are involved.
How many times have we read that the so called "developed Countries " wrongly sentenced someone??
Should they also scrap thier laws??